Now, Muslim clergy roped in to counter ISIS online propaganda

To counter terror organization ISIS's literature of jihad and crimes against humanity, India has started creating an internet-based "non-official channel of religious leaders" to stop Muslim youths from falling into their trap, sources said on Friday.

The Muslim clergy will be trained to create YouTube channels, podcast, accounts on social media and websites to counter ISIS narrative. Further, the clergy has been directed to highlight the atrocities carried on women and children by ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Al-Baghdadi, who was the highest-ranking terrorist leader since al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was killed on October 27 in a US Special Forces raid at a sleepy village of Barisha, in Idlib province of northwestern Syria.

The Centre has stated that ISIS has exploited the internet in a very organized way for its every terror-related activity such as radicalization, training, recruitment, planning and execution. "This needs to be countered in a similar way," said a senior IPS officer posted with Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), adding that merely arresting the Muslim youths is not going to solve the imminent threat.